Coleman to speak about
problems of the uninsured

By Kara Gavin / Health System Public Relations

How can the United States tolerate a situation in which nearly
40 million of its people don’t have health insurance, and
as a result are sicker and die sooner than their fellow citizens?
Why do the uninsured receive worse health care, even in emergencies,
than people with health insurance? And what can be done about it?

President Mary Sue Coleman will grapple with those questions Oct.
9, when she gives the seventh annual Raymond W. Waggoner Lecture
on Ethics and Values in Medicine at the U-M Health System (UMHS).

Coleman is no stranger to the issue of uninsured people. For the
past year, she has co-chaired a committee for the Institute of Medicine
(IOM) on this subject. She also holds a professorship in biological
chemistry at the Medical School in addition to her role as president.

Her talk, a compilation of three reports from the IOM’s Committee
on the Consequences of Uninsurance, is titled “Care Without
Coverage: Too Little, Too Late.”

The IOM committee evaluated numerous studies about how lack of
insurance affects the health and health care of Americans, and the
difference that insurance could make. It concluded that people in
late middle age, those with chronic illnesses, lower-income adults,
and members of racial and ethnic minorities could benefit the most
from increased health care coverage. It called for insurance strategies
that include prevention and screening, not just “rescue”
options for people who already are ill.

The lectureship is named for Dr. Raymond Waggoner, who died in 2000
at age 98. He was chair of the Department of Psychiatry for 33 years,
from 1937 to 1970. A noted psychiatrist, medical administrator and
government advisor who was one of the first to see mental illness
as both an emotional and physical problem, Waggoner maintained an
interest in medical ethics and values throughout his career. The
Department of Psychiatry established the lectureship in his honor
in 1995.

The talk will be preceded by a brief recognition of Waggoner’s
life and career. After the talk, Coleman will take questions from
the audience on topics relating to the University’s health
system and Life Sciences Initiative, as well as the issues addressed
in her talk and report.

The lecture is at 4 p.m. Oct. 9 in the Ford Amphitheater on the
second floor of the University Hospital. For more information, contact
Ruthann Bertl at (734) 647-8762 or rbertel@umich.edu.